I'll Make A Man Out of You
by mufire
Summary: A series of Warrior Fire/ Mufire one-shots requested at my tumblr.
1. I'll Make A Man Out of You

**Prompt:**

_ifancymyselfaswan - Mulan and Neal watching Mulan!_

**A/N: I FLAILED SO MUCH WHEN I WAS DONE WRITING THIS JUST KAJND LEAVE ME HERE TO DIE what a bunch of CUTIES**

Mulan rested with her head against Neal's knee as she sat cross-legged on the floor and he played with her hair. Most of her attention was directed at the television screen in front of her. It was funny, how they made everything seem so heroic. At the time, she had no idea what she was doing. She paused as the movie neared the ending, and her father appeared on the screen. They did a surprisingly accurate job of portraying him.

"Something wrong?" Neal asked, who felt her body stiffen against him. He had her hair arranged in a lose braid that hung down her back. He kept undoing it then reforming it again, and Mulan found it soothing. It relaxed and served to calm her after a long day.

"My father. I miss him," she said. She chuckled at the version of her grandmother, one of the characters they'd gotten completely wrong. She rested the side of her cheek against the inside of his knee, and breathed in the smell that was simply Neal...a mix of what he told her was called aftershave, and the sharp smell of pine.

"Where...where is he?" Neal asked. Mulan chewed on her inner cheek as extra moisture sprang to her eyes, but didn't turn to tears.

"Gone. He died a few months after I returned home. He had a weak heart. In the physical sense," she added, not wanting Neal to get the idea that her father hadn't been strong where it counted. Her father was very high on the list of people she admired and wanted to model. And she had loved him deeply.

"He seemed like a great guy," Neal said and stroked her hair back from her face again. The soft silky texture of it ran through his hands smoothly. His thumb brushed over her jaw. Mulan smiled as the end credits rolled.

"Thanks. Most people just say sorry," she craned her neck backwards to look up at him. "You have a way of surprising me, Neal Cassidy."

"I do my best," he leaned down and kissed her forehead. He looked down at her softly, and she was drawn in once more by is puppy dog eyes. How could he look so innocent?

"Is Shang real?" he asked, and his face turned more serious. A deep line creased between his eyebrows, that only appeared when he was troubled or in deep thought. She grinned.

"Why? Jealous?" she asked in a playful tone.

She swore, only Neal could make her act like this. He made her lose her usual serious composure. She could be herself around him, and not worry about upholding her honor or trying to impress everyone else. She didn't have to prove that she was good enough; Neal had always thought she was more than that.

In turn, she accepted that he was a human being who made mistakes while he tried to get out of the shadow of his father's influence. He regretted them deeply, and he was trying to be better. That was what counted. Bravery could be shown in different ways, and Neal had more than proved himself to her. He wasn't the coward his father had been, not anymore.

"No," he said, a bit too quickly. Mulan took his hands in hers and squeezed them fondly before moving them away from her hair and back to rest at his sides. She hopped onto her feet, only to turn around and sit herself sideways on his lap. Her arms went around his shoulders as she gracefully perched upon his legs, and he looked up at her adoringly. His dark green eyes sparkled with love, and she felt her heart skip a beat.

"Shang was a sixteen year old boy who hardly knew what he was doing. He was just a regular man in the army, and had been spoiled quite thoroughly by his parents. I had to save his life more than once with the stupid stunts he pulled," she told Neal with a smile. "But if we're talking about someone in my life who most represented Shang's qualities...it would be Philip. We fought many battles alongside one another, and well…"

She tried to tell him with her eyes. She didn't want to say it out loud, and was certain he'd already guessed when they had journeyed together in the Enchanted Forest. Philip was a more vulnerable point that she didn't like to mention. While they remained friends, she couldn't help but think back to the way they had saved each other's lives.

But now things were vastly different; she had Neal, and had become very close friends with Aurora. The four of them still had times when they would hang out, though less so now that Aurora was pregnant.

"You fell for him," Neal said quietly. Her eyes flashed to his when his voice tugged her out of her reverie.

"Unrequited love is one of the more painful forms of torture," she answered quietly. Her eyes met his. "But I grew out of it. And then this man popped out of nowhere, washed up on a beach, and had an annoying yet endearing determination to make me smile again. Plus I had to save your ass all the time, and I suppose that creates a bond as well."

"Hey! I took pretty good care of myself," he protested, and his nose brushed against hers as they leaned closer to one another.

"Only because I taught you how," she smiled widely. Her hands gripped the hair at the base of his neck, then she drew her fingers through it, just needing to touch him.

"I knew some...things," he stumbled slightly over the lie. Mulan laughed and leaned in to kiss him softly. When she pulled back, his eyes were sparkling.

"Well, you know...I had to make a man out of you," she teased, and let out a sharp laugh when he threw her down onto the couch and began tickling her.

Neal. He was the man who made her laugh again.


	2. It's Just a Scratch

**Prompt:**

_Anonymous: Don't know if you're still taking prompts but if you are, maybe one were Mulan is injured and being stubborn about letting Neal help her._

"Stop that," Mulan slapped his hand away. Neal narrowed his eyes at her.

"You're hurt, just let me-"

"It's just a scratch," she snapped, in a bad mood. She should have seen the man coming at her; she shouldn't have been so distracted by making sure_ he_ was okay...Really, this was all _his_ fault. She moved to get to her feet and ignored the sharp pain against the side of her leg.

_Fucking Neal._ He reached out to help steady her, but she smacked his hand away again.

"I am_ fine_," she growled.

"No, you're_ not_," he said firmly, but stepped away. She ignored the worried look on his face. _We don't have time for that, Neal,_ she thought grimly as she straightened the strap to her pack and brushed her hair to the side.

"Let's get out of here," Mulan said, and began leading the way through the thick brush of the forest. She tried not to limp too heavily as she slashed a pathway with her sword, but after several minutes, beads of sweat were gathering across her face from the effort. It wasn't too long after that that she tripped, feeling light headed despite the tight cloth she had carelessly wrapped over her wound to stop the bleeding.

The ground loomed closer as she began pitching face forwards, when two arms caught her. She gave up fighting it and let Neal steady her, then he lowered her to the ground with deep concern on his features. She looked up at him, panting lightly, as he knelt down beside her.

He untied the cloth from around her leg. His hands hesitated before he moved them and took her boot off, then gently began rolling the leg of her pants up to reveal a deep cut glistening with blood. He hissed lightly, and swung his bag off his shoulder.

Mulan watched him curiously. He seemed very caring and attentive as he tended her wound with the supplies they had; some herbs Mulan instructed him on how to use were pressed against the injury to quell the bleeding, and she sighed in relief at their calming effects.

"There," Neal said softly. Their eyes met, and Mulan was taken aback by the tenderness in his. She shook her head slightly to snap herself out of the trance his gaze offered as his thumb stroked slowly over her ankle when he pulled her pant leg back down.

"We'll want to get a move on. You need to get back to _Emma_," she reminded him, emphasizing the name of his lover. Her voice was sharper than necessary. He nodded and gently slipped her boot back on, then offered her a hand once he had stood up again. She considered it for a moment before accepting, and her hand fit perfectly in his when he encased his fingers around it and lifted her upward. They met eye to eye and Mulan quickly turned away. She rearranged her things.

"Come," was all she said to him as she continued walking and led the way in front of him. He followed behind quietly.


	3. The Greatest Gift

**Prompt:**

_Anonymous- Mulan and Rumpelstiltskin are having a conversation about Neal and he tells her "The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter/daughter-in-law._

* * *

Mulan stared in the mirror at her reflection. Make-up. She hated make-up, or always claimed she did, but sometimes, just the right touch was actually kind of….nice.

She could see her bridesmaids behind her, getting dressed, while Snow braided her hair. Mulan took a deep breath and looked down. Snow gave her a reassuring smile. She stiffened when a knock sounded at the door, and immediately began thinking about all the things that could have gone wrong.

Aurora answered the door, peeking out, and when she looked back in, she looked surprise.

"Rumplestiltskin wants to talk to you," she told Mulan. Mulan's eyebrows raised and she pressed her lips together. "Alone," Aurora added. Mulan sighed. She exchanged looks with Belle, who smiled and nodded.

"All right. Give us a moment then."

The bridesmaids trailed out, and soon after, Rumplestiltskin, her soon-to-be father-in-law, walked in. Mulan turned in her chair and gave him a hesitant smile.

"If you were checking to see if I'd run off...well, I haven't," she said, but Rumple's face remained passive. He looked around the room, then at her.

"No. I didn't think you would. That's more of my thing to do," he said, in a surprisingly soft voice. Mulan wrang her hands together.  
"Did you need something?" she asked. He came and sat down in one of the chairs close to her, and put his cane to the side.

"I just wanted to talk to you. I haven't had much chance to, with all the preparations," he said. Mulan watched him, waiting for him to continue. "It must be hard for you, not having your own family here."

"Yes," Mulan agreed, and looked down, painfully reminded of her father. "You must be happy. To have this gift, to be present at your son's wedding. I wish my father were still alive to see us."

Rumplestiltskin paused and studied her for a minute, then smiled and reached out his hand to place it over hers as he looked at her earnestly.

"The greatest gift of all is having you for a daughter, I'm sure."


End file.
